


Brothers over Flowers

by Dalankar



Category: JYJ (Band), Super Junior
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, foster brothers au, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 04:38:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4773836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dalankar/pseuds/Dalankar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hyukjae gains a brother out of the blue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brothers over Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the EunHae bonfire fest run by ThanhXuan.

He Googles it later, when the surprise has abated slightly. His parents explanation had left a lot to the imagination. Apparently, a child can be adopted until he or she reaches the age of 18, although it is extremely rare. But clearly it does happen. Under extraneous circumstance.

Extraneous circumstance.

What does that even mean?

"Hyukjae?"

He immediately switches windows so that it looks like he's been searching for various forms of protozoa instead of how he suddenly have a brother the same age as him.

His mother comes in, and waits until he finally looks up at her.

"What is it, mom?"

"Are you okay?"

He frowns. "Why shouldn't I be?"

She sighs. "Don't be like that, Hyukjae. He's been through a lot and needs our support. I'd like you to be his friend, Hyukjae. Be kind to him."

He bites his lip in annoyance. "Why should I?"

"We're family now. You're his family, his brother."

"You could have asked me, mom."

She runs a hand through his hair.

"If we hadn't taken him then his life would have been terrible, Hyukjae."

He wants to ask why he should care about that but realises it's only going to make him sound like a heartless bastard. So he keeps his mouth shut until his mother presses a kiss onto his hair and heads back down to greet her new son.

 

He looks up when he hears a shuffle at the door. His new brother stands at the doorway, a duffel bag held before him in both hands. Hyukjae stares at him for a long moment. He has a mess of dark hair that falls into his eyes and that shirt he's wearing must be at least 4 sizes too big for him. And he doesn't look up as the minutes stack up. Hyukjae sighs.

"The bed near the window is mine so-" he points at the bed by the opposite wall, "-that one is yours."

The dark head lifts, and follows his hand towards the empty bed. "I emptied half of the closet too, damn pain but I did it so you can use it." He glances down at the only bag the other boy had brought in. "But I guess you won't be using it much."

The head dips again and he slowly walks towards the bed. Hyukjae watches him, feeling like some zoologist observing a rare species.

Lee Donghae.

He sure walks really slowly.

"I'm Hyukjae," he says, drawing his legs up and sitting cross legged at his study desk.

The dark head lifts, then nods slowly before looking away. "I know," Donghae says in a voice so soft Hyukjae barely catches it. But he does, and he laughs.

"I bet."

Silence descends again and Hyukjae gets to his feet with an exaggerated sigh. "I'm pretty sure you can find the bathroom by yourself," he says, heading out to distract himself with TV.

"Hey," the same soft voice calls out just as he reaches the door. "Thank you."

Hyukjae rolls his eyes and skips down the stairs.

 

There is a blanket wrapped bundle on the bed when Hyukjae comes in. He stares at the unmoving bundle for a moment and heads into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Donghae is still in the same position when he comes back.

"I'm pretty sure I don't sleep walk and I probably don't talk in my sleep, so just don't worry and go to sleep," he says, slipping under the covers of his own bed. He hears a muffled laugh from the next bed and smiles to himself.

"Goodnight, Hyukjae."

Hyukjae tilts his head at the next bed in surprise. But the bundle - Donghae is still unmoved.

"Night, little brother."

This elicits another laugh, this time less muffled, and Hyukjae falls asleep with a light heart.

 

Something jolts him awake. He lies still for a moment wondering what woke him from the whatever pleasant dream he was having when he hears a soft whimper. He draws up onto his elbows and turns his head towards the other bed. By the street lights outside he sees Donghae shift under the blankets and hears the fearful whimper again. He's having a nightmare.

"Hey," he calls.

For a moment there is silence, then he hears something. A whisper. Too soft for him to hear, and a cry as if Donghae is in pain. Hyukjae jumps off the bed. He switches on the bedside lamp and rushes to Donghae's side. Donghae is tangled in the sheets, face scrunched up in pain and eyes squeezed shut. Hyukjae dares reach out and touch Donghae's shoulder.

"Donghae, wake up."

Donghae gasps, as if he'd been holding his breath and pulls away from Hyukjae's hand so fast that he hits the wall behind him with a thump.

"It's just me," Hyukjae says softly. "It's me."

Donghae stares at him with wide eyes, chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Donghae, it's okay."

Donghae blinks slowly. "Hyukjae…?"

Hyukjae smiles. "Yeah."

Donghae brushes at his long hair with a trembling hand. "I'm sorry I woke you up."

"That was one hell of a nightmare, man. What were you, getting eaten by aliens?" Hyukjae asks lightly, his heartbeat returning to normal.

Donghae stills, fingers clenching on the bedspread.

"Yeah," he answers in a voice that is shaky as his hands, "something like that."

Hyukjae stares at him, unsure. "Do you want me to leave the light on?"

"Is that- is that okay?"

Hyukjae nods. "Totally."

Donghae swallows and lies back down, pulling the blankets up to his neck. Hyukjae watches him, biting his lip.

"Hey-" he starts and Donghae looks up at him, "-I'm here," he says, all the while wondering what in the world he is trying to say, "I'm right over there." He points to his bed, as if Donghae might have missed it, "-if you need anything."

Donghae's lips curve up into a tiny smile. "Thank you."

Hyukjae shrugs, and head back to his own bed. Donghae is a still bundle of blankets when Hyukjae looks over. He doesn’t know when he falls asleep but he knows Donghae was still awake.

 

When he wakes up, the other bed is empty and he stares at it, the perfectly folded covers and wonders if yesterday had all been a dream. Then he hears his mother's voice, high and forcefully cheerful, as she is when she is with anyone she doesn't know well. He rolls onto his back with a sigh. At least he doesn't hate him, at least Donghae seems more normal than he expected. He didn't seem violent, or prone to drugs. Except for maybe being extremely shy and plagued with nightmares, Donghae seems as though he will barely disrupt Hyukjae's life, which is just fine with him.

 

His parents are sitting at the breakfast table with Donghae when Hyukjae heads down. Donghae lifts his head for a moment, then ducks again. Hyukjae blinks, taken aback by the large, brown eyes circled by tired bruises.

"Hyukjae," his mother starts, putting rice into his bowl, "I thought maybe you could take Donghae shopping today."

Hyukjae shoves a spoonful of rice into his mouth, and looks up his mother in silent protest.

"But mom!" He says deciding to vocalize his protest, perfectly aware that he might be whining. "I was going to meet Junsu!"

"I'm sure Junsu won't mind if you spend the day with your brother," his mother tells him pointedly, while Hyukjae wonders how he should start that conversation.

_So Junsu. ..just letting you know I have a brother now. Yeah, just got him yesterday. Real quiet like. Yeah, I was surprised too. So you understand why I can't play with you today, right?_

"Hyukjae," his mother prompts him with her no-nonsense voice.

"I'm okay," a soft voice says and Hyukjae takes a moment to realize that it is Donghae. It is really hard to get used to, to have another person with them like this when it has always been just the three of them. He doesn't even have any cousins or any extended family.

"Nonsense, Donghae," his mother says kindly and fixes Hyukjae with eyes that says 'say no and be grounded for the whole year', "Hyukjae will be happy to take you."

He resists the urge to run a hand through his newly dyed blond hair and says, "Yeah, I'll take you."

Donghae looks up at him, and for the second time in half an hour Hyukjae's heart does something weird in his chest. He ignores it and gobbles down breakfast. They say it is the most important meal of the day, right?

 

The one good thing to come out of this is that his mother gives him her credit card.

"You know I'll find out if you do anything stupid, right Hyukjae?" she asks sweetly as if she doesn't trust him. As if that one time when he'd bought a pair of $400 head phones would ever repeat itself.

"Yes, mom, " he promises as he heads out the door, Donghae following behind him. Quietly of course. And really slowly.

"What are you, an old man?" he asks, annoyed at having to stop and wait for him too often. Donghae bites his lip and shakes his head.

"I'm sorry."

Hyukjae sighs. "Whatever. Come on."

Their local shopping complex is not huge but it has enough shops for their purposes. Which is to make sure Donghae has more than one shirt, and more than those sneakers that are going to burst into flame any second if Hyukjae is any judge of the situation.

Hyukjae ends up having to pick clothes too. Since all Donghae does is to stand in the middle of the shop and look around with awed eyes. Like he's never been to a shop before. Hyukjae thrusts a bunch of shirts, and pants into Donghae's hands.

"Go on, try these."

Donghae looks down at the clothes and then Hyukjae with wide eyes. "These are - there aren't any other shops?"

Hyukjae sniffs. "What the hell? You don't like them?" he asks, annoyed. Offended on the behalf of his favourite shop.

Donghae blinks, then shakes his head. "No- I- you don't have to spend so much money on me," Donghae says softly, cheeks pink.

Hyukjae stares. "First, I'm not spending money on you. My - our mom is. Second, we're not buying all of them, you're just trying them on. Third, you don't - you probably don't have to worry about money anymore."

Donghae is biting his lip so hard that Hyukjae worries he's going to draw blood. "Just go and try them, will you? My feet hurt from standing here."

Donghae nods and heads for the change rooms when Hyukjae points them out.

 

He's loitering outside the change rooms, messaging Junsu and trying to be as mysterious as possible.

_WTF? So you can't meet up today because there is an alien living in your house?_ Junsu sends, and Hyukjae is just about to reply when the door opens and Donghae steps out. For a moment all Hyukjae can do is stare. Because he's never thought clothes makes that much of a difference but this- the skinny jeans and the blue sweater- Donghae looks-

"Does it-do I look strange?" Donghae asks softly.

Hyukjae swallows. The only thing strange is how tight his chest is feeling right now.

He steps forward and Donghae stands rooted in one spot. He reaches up, pulling the collar of the shirt under the sweater, out and straightening it. This is the closest he's been to Donghae since he met him. Donghae stands still, almost breathlessly as Hyukjae fixes his collar.

"You have to push the sleeves back," he says, taking Donghae's left wrist in one hand and pushing the sleeve back. He freezes in shock when he sees the scars on Donghae's pale forearm. Small, white and circular, four scars in a line across Donghae's skin. Donghae jumps back too late, pulling the sleeve down over his arm. Hyukjae stares at him in shock.

"Who did that-" he asks, voice rough with shock. "Who did that to you?"

Donghae shakes his head, dark hair flying over his face, and runs back into the change room.

Hyukjae stares at the closed door in stunned silence.

Cigarette burns. Those had been cigarette burns on Donghae's arm.

He walks up to the change room and presses a palm over the door. "Donghae?"

There is no answer and he sees the sight of Donghae's feet under the door. He sits down on the other side.

"Hey-" he tries, feeling incredibly helpless. "Hey, if you come out, I'll buy you ice cream."

There is an answering sniff from the other side of the door. Hyukjae straightens, staring at the door with wide eyes as if he can see through the wood at Donghae who is crying.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry you were hurt," he says softly, so softly that he wonders if Donghae can hear him. "I hope they're dead. I hope whoever hurt you is dead!" he says with a vehemence that surprises him. It must have surprised Donghae too because the door opens and Hyukjae scrambles up to his feet.

Donghae watches him for a moment. Hyukjae resists the urge to shift.

"I like ice cream," Donghae finally says and Hyukjae laughs in relief.

"Sure," he smiles. "I know the best place."

 

Dinner is quiet. Donghae hides behind his hair and eats little. Hyukjae can't help but look up at him from moment to moment, at his arm hidden under the sleeves, at the scars that hide under the long sleeve shirt that Hyukjae had picked out for him. He doesn't know what kind of life Donghae had lived before this, what kind of person he had lived with to hurt him like that. Hyukjae feels anger burn in his heart and a possessiveness that surprises him. He's already thinking of Donghae as his', and he hates whoever had hurt him.

When dinner ends, Donghae bows and slowly leaves the dining room. Hyukjae's mother immediately fixes him with a glare.

"What did you do, Hyukjae?" she asks, in a tone of voice that suggests he better answer truthfully or else.

Hyukjae bristles indignantly. "Nothing, mom! I swear!"

She narrows her eyes. "Then why was Donghae so quiet?"

Donghae is always quiet, he wants to say. He barely speaks two words at a time.

"Why him, mom? Why did you choose him?"

For a moment his mother looks taken aback. She looks up at his father before looking back at him. "We didn't choose him, Hyukjae. Really, I think he chose us."

He blinks. "Mom, what-"

"Be kind to him, Hyukjae. He's been through a lot and it would be nice for him to have you on his side."

He stares at her, realising that his parents know. That they must know about Donghae's life before here. Of course they do. He wonders if that is why they chose him. They wanted to save him too. "I am," he mumbles, pushing his chair back and getting to his feet.

He's already on Donghae's side.

 

Donghae is sitting cross legged on his bed when Hyukjae comes in, head bowed and hands clasped in his lap. Hyukjae can see the scars like an after burn behind his eyes and tries not to think about what other scars might be there.

Hyukjae sits down on his bed, watching Donghae for a moment before turning to look out the window. The tree outside the window is bending sideways in the wind, looks like it's a storm. Hyukjae has always liked storms. They are exciting, specially thunder storms. Hyukjae would leave the curtains open and watch the lightening flash outside and anticipate the loud cracks of thunder that would follow.

"He's not dead."

Hyukjae startles at Donghae's voice and spins around to look at him. But Donghae is not looking at him, his eyes are fixed on his hands twisted in his lap. "My stepfather- he's not dead."

"I could kill him for you," Hyukjae offers, not entirely jokingly because he's seen a lot of movies and he's sure he'd be smarter than Donghae's bastard of a stepfather. Donghae's head snaps up.

"No! Don't ever find him!" Donghae cries, eyes wild. And Hyukjae immediately jumps off his bed, walking over to Donghae.

"Okay," he agrees, "I won't. I promise," he says softly, sitting down at the edge of Donghae's bed.

Donghae's eyes are lost when he looks at him. "I just want- I don't ever want to go back."

"Okay," Hyukjae says, "I doubt mom will let you go anyway."

Donghae's lips curve up just a little.

Lightning flashes outside, and Donghae flinches. Hyukjae's excitement at the coming storm abates.

Donghae's shoulders draw together defensively as thunder rumbles in answer. Hyukjae walks over to the window, closing the curtains and picking up his headphones, the $400 ones, and heads back to Donghae.

"Here." He holds out the headphones, his iPod attached, to Donghae who looks at him with wide eyes. "Put them on. Trust me, you won't hear anything else."

When Donghae makes no move to take them, Hyukjae steps in and puts the headphones carefully over Donghae's ears. Then he picks up his iPod, picking out his favourite SNSD song, Gee, for Donghae. As the music starts, Donghae's eyes widen even further. This time in surprised pleasure. Hyukjae grins, gives Donghae two thumbs up and heads back to his bed. When he looks back, as he is settled comfortably under the covers, Donghae meets his eyes and smiles. Hyukjae's breath catches audibly, but lucky for him, he knows Donghae can't hear it. He leaves the light on.

 

Hyukjae wakes up to the sound of water running. When he turns over and looks at the other bed, Donghae is gone. The headphones are sitting neatly on the table. He pulls at the curtain and sees that the storm had disappeared and given way to a bright blue sky.

Donghae comes out the bathroom still toweling his hair dry and Hyukjae sits up in bed.

"Good morning," he greets and Donghae pushes the long hair away from his face and smiles.

"Hi."

The idea hits him immediately. He jumps off the bed, clamps a hand over Donghae's wrist and proceeds to pull him down the corridor and down the stairs. He hears Donghae's cry of surprise and when they hit the bottom of the stairs Donghae pulls his hand away. Hyukjae looks back and Donghae's face is contorted in pain, arms wrapped protectively around his hips. Hyukjae takes an immediate step forward.

"Donghae-"

"Hyukjae, what did you do? " his mother cries, dashing over to Donghae worriedly. Hyukjae looks at her helplessly, then at Donghae.

"I don't -" he doesn't know. He'd only touched Donghae's wrist.

"I'm okay," Donghae tells them but there is a faint sheen of sweat on his face and a pinched set to his mouth.

"Donghae, go sit down on the couch. I'll bring you some painkillers" his mother says, and Donghae doesn't look at Hyukjae but limps off for the living room immediately.

"I didn't hurt him mom!" he exclaims when his mother looks at him accusingly.

"You made him run down the stairs," she says and he looks up at the stairs and realises that what he had taken as a cry of surprise was in fact a cry of pain.

"Yeah," he says slowly, not understanding where he'd gone wrong.

His mother sighs. "You need to be more careful, Hyukjae. Donghae's hips are injured, you can't just make him-"

"What? He's hurt? How can I be careful if you never tell me anything?" he almost shouts.

"You're not going to take that tone with me, young man," his mother tells him sternly.

Hyukjae runs a hand through his hair in frustration. "I didn't know he was hurt."

"Just take more care, Hyukjae," she tells him, kissing him on the cheek before heading towards the kitchen.

Donghae is lying down on the couch when Hyukjae enters, his head on Hyukjae's favourite cushion. Seeing Hyukjae, he tries to get up.

"Don't get up," Hyukjae tells him. "I don't want it to get worse. "

Donghae sits up anyway. "I'm sorry."

"What for?" Hyukjae asks, unable to keep his voice from being harsh. He knows he's only angry at himself but still...

"Your mom yelled at you because of me," Donghae says softly.

"Our mom yelled at me because of you," he quips. "I didn't know you were hurt," he says a moment later, more softly. "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," Donghae assures him immediately.

Hyukjae stares at him, the hunched shoulders and the dark hair that hides his eyes from the world. "Was it him? Your step father?"

He sees the way Donghae's whole body tenses, as if he is trying to avoid being seen. Eventually he nods shakily.

He walks over to Donghae and holds down a hand. "Come with me, I want you to meet my friend Junsu."

Donghae looks up at him uncertainly.

"I promise to walk slowly," he says and Donghae's lips quirk up a little as he reaches up a hand and places it in Hyukjae's.

Hyukjae smiles, tightens his hold on Donghae's hand and gently pulls him up to his feet.

"But first we have to do something else."

 

Hyukjae plays around with his phone while Donghae is occupied. Junsu had texted him earlier saying he'll come up to meet them, since he is excited to meet his alien. Hyukjae pauses his game and looks up when a pair of feet appear infront of him and-

Donghae bites his lip uncertainly. "Does it look bad?"

Hyukjae gets to his feet, shaking his head mutely. Donghae's hair is no longer obscuring his face, instead it falls around his head in a soft looking brown strands. Donghae looks-

"You look alright I guess. At least now I can see your face," he says, trying to sound casual.

Donghae nods slowly, face falling. "Okay."

Hyukjae growls impatiently. "Don't be stupid," he grinds out, "you already know you're fucking gorgeous."

Donghae's eyes widen and Hyukjae realises what he just said and feels his face burn.

"You think I'm gorgeous?" Donghae asks incredulously. He sound so sincerely confused that Hyukjae realises he hadn't been fishing for compliments.

He buries his hands in his pockets so that he doesn't reach out and touch Donghae's soft brown hair.

"Yeah, " he says softly, forcing himself to meet Donghae's eyes, "I think you're gorgeous."

He sees Donghae swallow, and holds his ground as Donghae takes a step forward.

"Hyukjae -"

"Lee Hyukjae, show me your alien!"

Junsu bumps into him. "Where is he then? You promised me an alien, man. You better deliver."

Hyukjae bumps back. "I never said anything about an alien, you idiot!" he claims, eyeing Donghae sideways. Donghae is still looking at him with stunned eyes.

Junsu looks thoughtful for a moment. "Okay. But you did say something about a brother-" he peers at Donghae over his glasses, "is this him?"

Without waiting for an answer, Junsu holds out a hand. "Hello, Hyukjae's brand new brother, I'm Kim Junsu, here to make your experience as Hyukjae's new brother a better one than it ever would have been without me."

"Get out!" Hyukjae laughs, pushing playfully at him, as Donghae takes Junsu offered hand.

"Hi, I'm Donghae."

Junsu grins. "Look Hyukjae, now you have two good looking guys in your life to make you feel like shit."

"Shut up, Su," Hyukjae says, retaliating by messing up Junsu's hair, "I'm still a better dancer than you."

Donghae looks at him with surprised eyes. "You dance?"

Hyukjae blinks at the enthusiasm in Donghae's voice. "Yeah. We both do. Why?" he asks, as the answer dawns on him. "You dance too?"

Donghae nods excitedly. "I do! But I-" his smile fades. "-I can't really dance right now." Hyukjae is confused for a second before he remembers Donghae's injured hips.

"Come on-" Junsu throws an arm over Donghae's shoulder "-I'll show you where we practice."

Donghae looks at Hyukjae, and Hyukjae falls into step with him on the other side. "You can join the dance club when school starts. You'll be better by then."

 

They're on the rooftop of Junsu's apartment building. Hyukjae's phone is doing its best to blast out must as loudly as it can and Donghae is watching them with eyes round with wonder. Hyukjae is unable to stop himself from looking at him, so much so that he is completely out of sync before long. Junsu kicks at him in annoyance.

"What the hell, man?" Junsu asks, following the kick with a punch. Hyukjae grins, running a hand through his hair, treacherous eyes finding Donghae again, leaning against the wall.

"Sorry, Su. Got distracted."

Junsu's eyes narrow and he looks at Hyukjae, then at Donghae and at Hyukjae again. Hyukjae stops breathing when Junsu's eyebrows rise.

"Distracted, are you?" Junsu sing songs, skipping over to Donghae.

"Do you want to dance?" Junsu asks and Donghae looks at Hyukjae with wide eyes.

"I-"

"He can't, " Hyukjae answers for him, coming to stand by Donghae's side and Junsu's eyebrows rise even further.

"Why not? I thought you liked it."

"I'm not well," Donghae answers softly, uncertainly.

"You're sick?" Junsu asks, immediately concerned.

"He hurt his leg," Hyukjae says, and Donghae smiles at him gratefully.

Junsu purses his lips. "You can join us when you're better. I'm sure Hyukjae can't wait," Junsu says, dancing away from Hyukjae's reach as he tries to punch him.

 

He stares at the back of Donghae's head and tries to figure it out. Donghae is sitting on the couch with their dad, watching a football game while Hyukjae is sitting at the dining table, pretending to eat an apple while he's trying to understand why he doesn't want to look away from Donghae. What is it about Donghae that always makes him want to look? What is it about him that makes him say stupid and ridiculous things? How is it possible that Donghae has been here for less than a week and Hyukjae already feels like he's known him forever?

He sighs, throws the apple core in the bin and heads up stairs. By some strange chance, both Donghae and their dad cheer for the same team and since Hyukjae hates the team with a passion he doesn't want to hang around, especially since it looks like they're going to win. His head is too messy right now anyway to even boo properly.

He's just reached the top of the stairs when he hears the call.

"Hyukjae." Donghae is slowly climbing up the stairs after him.

Hyukjae waits at the top of the stairs, biting his lip and cursing the stairs.

"Are you- does it hurt? " he asks as Donghae finally reaches him.

Donghae smiles and shakes his head.

"Thank you for today," Donghae says softly, and Hyukjae's heart starts to beat faster for no discernible reason.

"You're welcome," he manages to grind out, firmly keeping his limbs from doing anything treacherous like touching Donghae. Or worse.

Donghae smiles, leans in and kisses Hyukjae on the cheek. "I'm very lucky," Donghae says as Hyukjae's mind reels.

Donghae walks past him to their room and Hyukjae stands there, at the top of the stairs, replaying the touch of Donghae's lips on his skin. Warm and dry and Hyukjae doesn't know what it means. And being confused isn't his favourite state of mind.

Donghae is standing by his bed, back to Hyukjae when Hyukjae comes in.

"Hey," he calls but Donghae doesn't turn. Instead he stands there, shoulders tense as if awaiting a blow. "Donghae-"

"I like you," Donghae says suddenly. "I know we're brothers but-" Donghae turns around, face pink and tries to brush back hair that is no longer there. "-I like it when I'm with you. I'm happy when I'm with you."

For a moment Hyukjae wonders if he is dreaming, if he is asleep , drooling on the pillow, making fantasies about Donghae. But Donghae is looking at him with wide, hopeful eyes and even if this is a dream, Hyukjae will take it.

"I like you too."

Donghae stills, eyes wide and fixed on Hyukjae. As if he can't believe it, as if he had not expected Hyukjae to say those words.

"My mother died two years ago," Donghae says quietly, so quietly as if he is talking to himself. Hyukjae swallows his words and closes the door behind him. Donghae is still standing by his bed. "She died and left me with my step-father. He hated me. He's always hated me." Donghae suddenly wavers, collapsing down on the bed. Hyukjae is beside him in a moment, kneeling down on the ground, looking up at Donghae. "I was late from school that day and couldn't make dinner. He knocked me down and kicked me until I passed out. I couldn't walk for three months." Donghae finally looks up at him. Hyukjae grips both his hands, as tight as he can hold. Tears are shining in Donghae's eyes and as he looks at him, they fall, slipping down his face, quietly and heart-breakingly. "I never thought I would ever find a home, find someone that cares for me." Donghae reaches up a hand, trembling fingers warm on Hyukjae's cheek. "Someone like you. "

Hyukjae leans up, Donghae's hand slipping down to his shoulder, and touches his lips softly and hesitatingly to Donghae's. "I really, really-" he kisses him again, "- really like you."

Donghae smiles. For the first time since he's arrived, his whole face lights up with joy. And Hyukjae, who has never confessed to anyone, let alone have someone confess to him, feels as though he is going to melt and puddle on the floor. And that smile, Donghae's smile immediately becomes his favorite thing in the world.

 

That night, instead of sleeping on his own bed, Donghae walks over to his', standing there hesitantly until Hyukjae realises what he wants and immediately scoots back, making as much space as possible. Donghae sits down slowly and Hyukjae keeps his limbs to himself and watches him.

"Is it okay?" Donghae asks softly. "Can I stay with you?"

Hyukjae nods, then realising Donghae might not be able to see him in the dark, says "Yep. For as long as you want."

He sees Donghae's smile, the flash of white teeth in the dark. Then Donghae is lying back beside him, Hyukjae holds his breath, as Donghae turns his head towards him.

"I don’t bite, you know," Donghae murmurs with amusement and Hyukjae immediately presses closer. Donghae catches one of his hands and threads their fingers together.

"I feel like this is a dream," Donghae says a moment later. "I might wake up and I'd still be…" he lets the words trail off but Hyukjae can guess what he is thinking. So he leans in, and kisses the side of Donghae's nose.

"Even if it’s a dream, I'm still here with you. And when you wake up, I'll still be there too," he promises as Donghae draws their twined hands to rest over his heart. "You're stuck with me now, Donghae."

Donghae laughs quietly. "Okay," he whispers, "I'm glad."

Hyukjae watches as Donghae's eyes fall shut, he watches the way his chest rises and falls with every steady breath. He reaches over and switches the light off when Donghae falls asleep.

 

3 months later.

 

He shouldn’t have been surprised. But this is the first time he's seeing Donghae dance. And it is so much more than Hyukjae had expected. Far more beautiful than he expected. Donghae is fluid and graceful. And every time he meets Hyukjae's eyes, he smiles, making Hyukjae feel a little more breathless every single time.

When the song comes to an end, Donghae collapses down on the floor beside him. Hyukjae leans over him and Donghae grins, reaching up a hand to touch his face. The t shirt Donghae is wearing doesn’t cover the scars on his forearm. Hyukjae knows that the only reason Donghae is not hiding his arms is because they're alone. That there are other scars on Donghae's body that no one will ever get to see.

Hyukjae still wants to murder Donghae's stepfather every time, but it might be slightly difficult since the man was sent to prison for child abuse a month ago. The tension in Donghae's shoulders had eased when their mother told them the news, and that night Donghae had buried his face in Hyukjae's chest and cried. Hyukjae had known it had been in relief, but his heart had hurt anyway. And he'd made a promise to himself to put himself between anything that might ever hurt Donghae. So far he's been doing a good job. And Donghae's bright smile comes without hesitation now. Hyukjae loves it as much he had that first time he had seen it.

Donghae's fingers slip in through his hair and Hyukjae leans closer.

"How was it?"

Hyukjae grins, tracing a finger down Donghae's nose. "Yunho is going to love you," he says, knowing that the captain of the dance school team will be over the moon to get a dancer as brilliant as Donghae in his team.

Donghae smiles.

"Just Yunho?"

Hyukjae grins and kisses him. "You know how much I love you already."

Donghae leans up and presses his lips lightly over Hyukjae's.

"I do. I know."

Donghae is still scared of storms. And sometimes he has nightmares that makes him cry. But now when he turns around, Hyukjae is there. Hyukjae is going to be there six months on, a year on, ten years on. Hyukjae is always going to be there just like he promised. Donghae doesn't have to face the world alone.

They're family.

*** 


End file.
